An excellent Irish movie with 95% on Rotten Tomatoes is on TV tonight

The underseen gem comes from the writer of Adam & Paul and boasts a brilliant lead turn from a Love/Hate star.

Directed by Peter Mackie Burns (Daphne) and written by Mark O'Halloran (Adam & Paul, Garage), Vaughan-Lawlor plays Colm in the film. He is a Dubliner in his 40s living a seemingly comfortable life in the suburbs with his kind wife, Claire (Monica Dolan, Black Mirror), and their two children.

Colm is left shaken, however, by his estranged father's death and upon learning that he is being made redundant from his job at the city's docks after 30 years of service.

Feeling unable to confide in Claire, he finds himself drawn to Jay (Tom Glynn-Carney, House of the Dragon), a 19-year-old sex worker.

Also featuring amongst its cast Eileen Walsh (Small Things Like These) and Michael Smiley (Alien: Earth), Rialto is the screen adaptation of O'Halloran's play, Trade.

The movie premiered at the prestigious Venice Film Festival to very positive reviews, with it currently holding a 95% Rotten Tomatoes score.

It's easy to see why critics liked it so much. Anchored by Vaughan-Lawlor's haunting performance as a troubled man in freefall and the film's delicate, tangible portrait of ennui and longing, Rialto is a quiet and complex drama that gets under viewers' skin.

Rialto is airing on TV tonight on RTÉ2 at 11.45pm. It is also currently streaming on the RTÉ Player.

Here are the other movies airing on TV tonight:

Titanic - Film4 - 9pm

Director James Cameron's Oscar-winning retelling of the Titanic disaster is one of the greatest films of all time.

White Chicks - Comedy Central - 9pm

Shawn and Marlon Wayans star as two FBI agents who go undercover as – you guessed it – white chicks.

12 Rounds - Legend - 9pm

It's John Cena vs Aidan Gillen in this watchable 2009 action flick.

Deepwater Horizon - Legend Xtra - 9pm

Mark Wahlberg stars in this well-reviewed biographical disaster film based on the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Brooklyn - RTÉ One - 9.25pm

The brilliant, powerful 2015 drama about a young Irish woman (Saoirse Ronan in an Oscar-nominated performance) who immigrates from Wexford to Brooklyn in the early 1950s.

The Matchmaker - TG4 - 9.40pm

This '90s comedy sees Janeane Garofalo play a Boston senator's assistant who is tasked with travelling to Ireland to search for the politician's relatives. This is in the hope that a show of the senator's Celtic roots will boost his clout with Irish-Americans.

When the assistant arrives in the Irish town of Ballinagra, the residents are beginning matchmaking season. Soon, she begins attracting the attention of the local men.

@joedotie

Will the rumours ever end? Just tell us already!⁠ ⁠ This week, there has been a lot of speculation about the return of the hit Irish crime drama Love/Hate.⁠ ⁠ This was sparked by one of its star’s John Connors stating that the show was coming back and that its lead character Nidge (played by Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) was still alive.⁠ ⁠ Connors later clarified that the project he is working on is more of a spin-off about his character on the series, Patrick Ward, and that he is the only actor confirmed to return.⁠ ⁠ Given all the rumours, when JOE spoke to Vaughan-Lawlor on the red carpet at the IFTA’s last night (Friday, 14 February), we had to ask him about the topic.⁠ ⁠ #LoveHate #TomVaughanLawlor

♬ original sound - JOE.ie

The Last Letter from Your Lover - RTÉ2 - 9.45pm

Felicity Jones, Callum Turner, Joe Alwyn, Nabhaan Rizwan and Shailene Woodley star in this 2021 British romantic drama about two women decades apart linked by a letter.

Boston Strangler - Channel 4 - 10pm

In this 2023 crime drama based on true events, Carrie Coon and Keira Knightley play journalists in the ’60s who investigate the Boston Strangler murders.

The Dry - Sky Showcase - 10pm

This acclaimed Australian mystery thriller starring Eric Bana was a hit in its home country back in 2020.

Capricorn One - Virgin Media Three - 11pm

A ’70s thriller in which a reporter (Elliot Gould) discovers that a supposed Mars landing by a crewed mission to the planet has been faked.

Nurse Betty - Comedy Central - 11.15pm

This well-liked 2000 black comedy centres on a small-town waitress (played by Renée Zellweger) who, after being traumatised by a savage event, starts to believe that she is a character in a soap opera she enjoys.

Legend - BBC One - 11.55pm

Based on true events, Legend follows twin brothers and notorious gangsters Reggie and Ronnie Kray (both played by Tom Hardy) who operated in London from the late 1950s into the ’60s.

The Empty Man - Film4 - 12.50pm

The modern cult classic horror thriller about an ex-cop (James Badge Dale) who investigates a teen's mysterious disappearance and stumbles into a deep conspiracy. For information from JOE on the film, click here.